Boston College
Eagles

   Loopholes in the bowl selection system allow the Eagles to fall, and it appears they may wind up out at the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco, away from the spots that find other ACC teams more attractive.

   But that doesn't seem to matter to a football team that has already won seven games, two or three (or more?) than many expected it to win, and has a chance at a third 10-win season in the last four (under three different coaches).

   The road won't be easy. The Eagles host 7-3 North Carolina this Saturday and then finish with a road game, a good one at 2-8 Maryland.

   By the way, the Eagles are still alive in a quest for a third straight trip to the ACC title game, barely. They have to win their last two and Clemson has to lose to North Carolina State for BC to win the Atlantic Division. Clemson has the tie-breaker because of its win over BC.

   "They have very, very good players," Spaziani said of North Carolina. "They have a very good scheme. It's a professional scheme, and they play it, and they're well-coached ? It's certainly going to be challenge. We've got our work cut out for us, on both sides of the ball."

   But the Eagles are also 6-0 at home. And they have also won seven straight November games, dating back to 2007, a sign of BC's toughness.

   --QB David Shinskie, a 25-year-old true freshman, continues to grow into the role of the starter. Last Saturday at Virginia, he was 12-for-26 for 147 yards and a touchdown, but also threw two costly interceptions before leading a winning fourth-quarter drive. "Dave is making strides in leadership and a lot of other areas, but he has a long way to go," said BC coach Frank Spaziani.

   --RB Montel Harris had his first big road game of the season, and in doing so, cleared the 1,000-yard rushing mark for his sophomore season (after running for 900 as a freshman). He ran for 151 yards on a career-high 38 carries.

   --LB Mike Morrissey started his BC career as a walk-on and is now a mainstay on the defense, sealing Saturday's win with a tackle at the BC 12 in the closing seconds. The Virginia PA announcer credited the stop to super frosh Luke Kuechly, who made 13 in the game but not that one. "Yeah, we were teasing Kuechly about that," Morrissey said with a smile. "I think somebody from Virginia could have tackled Montel, and they would have announced ?Kuechly.'"

   --The Eagles take a 6-0 home record into Saturday's home finale against North Carolina.

   --BC has won its last seven November game and hasn't had a losing November since it went 1-2 in 2001.

   SERIES HISTORY: North Carolina leads 3-2 (last meeting, 2008, North Carolina, 45-24).

   SCOUTING THE OFFENSE: David Shinskie is 25 years old. But the BC quarterback is still a true freshman, and he makes true freshmen mistakes. Last week, he threw a pair of costly interceptions, one in the Virginia end zone and the other returned for a touchdown, but then led a winning drive in the fourth quarter. The Eagles have a 1,000-yard rusher in Montel Harris, but North Carolina leads the ACC in rushing defense (94.1), scoring defense (16.1 points per game) and total defense (268 yards per). BC is 61st in the country in rushing, just 92nd in passing, 95th in total offense and 57th in scoring offense. Inside the red zone, though, the Eagles are 15th, with 25 touchdowns and six field goals in 34 trips inside the 20.

   SCOUTING THE DEFENSE: This group continues to be battered by injury, with the defensive end spot now the real trouble area. They keep patching things together, a task made easier by the work of freshman LB Luke Kuechly and former walk-on LB Mike Morrissey, who both continue to make plays. The Eagles are 29th in the country against the run, 61st against the pass, 22nd in defensive scoring, 30th in total defense and tied for 27th inside the red zone.

   QUOTE TO NOTE: "We certainly had a lot more mistakes than we needed to have, and they're costly in any game but certainly on the road. But what happened was there was a tremendous amount of character shown by the players to fight through it all." -- Boston College coach Frank Spaziani on his team's win at Virginia last week.

?? PLAYERS TO WATCH:

?? RB Montel Harris -- He has been a machine at home and last week had his first big road game of the year. After running for 900 yards as a freshman last year, he has cleared 1,000 this season.

?? QB David Shinskie -- The 25-year-old true freshman continues to make mistakes but also continues to make plays that make you believe the future is bright.

?? LB Luke Kuechly -- The best freshman in the ACC and one of the best in the country had another monster game at Virginia with 13 tackles, including a sack, three tackles for loss and a pair of pass breakups. Kuechly not only leads BC in tackles, but his 107, second in the ACC, are an amazing 57 more than anyone else on the Eagles' defense.

?? ROSTER REPORT:

?? --WR Rich Gunnell caught three passes for 75 yards last week at Virginia and needs 161 yards over the last three games (counting the bowl game) to break Pete Mitchell's all-time BC record of 2,388 yards receiving.

?? --DE Alex Albight missed the Virginia game with an ankle injury, and fellow Des Jim Ramella and Brad Newman both left that game with injuries. The status on all three for this week was unknown.

?? --LB Luke Kuechly broke Stephen Boyd's 1991 BC freshman tackles record with his 101st last week.

?? --RB Montel Harris is BC's first 1,000-yard rusher since Derrick Knight had 1,721 in 2003.

?? --LS Jack Geiser was also out last week, with Sean Flaherty handling the long snaps.